In past years, the volume of traffic in metropolitan areas and in areas of industrial agglomeration has increased considerably. To relieve the traffic volume on roads, many cities and communities try to divert the flow of traffic to rail-mounted public means of transportation, such as trams, light rail systems, subway systems and S trains.
In recent years, concerns of environmental protection, such as noise pollution, have increasingly taken center stage in discussions about an expansion of the rail-mounted traffic network. In this context, it is generally known that, especially when negotiating curves with rail-bound vehicles, vibrations are excited due to the lateral slide of the wheel on the rail and the associated static friction. These vibrations lead to increased wheel and rail wear as well as to structure-borne and air-borne noise emissions. To reduce the static friction, and thus to minimize the noise generated, lubrication devices are used, by means of which it is possible to lubricate especially the rail head of a rail.
The publication EI—Eisenbahningenieur (51) September 2000, pp. 54 ff., describes a rail head lubrication device which, during curve negotiations, sprays separating agents for rail head lubrication onto the surface of the rails. This device is part of a combined wheel flange and rail head lubrication device of a rail-bound vehicle. The two components of this device share a compressed air supply and control unit. The disadvantage of this solution is that because of the remote distance from the lubrication site, the lubricant, during application of the lubricant by means of a nozzle, is mixed with compressed air. As a result, the system is sensitive to changes in the weather and does not always function reliably. In addition, the lubricant is distributed over a large area, which further contributes to damage to the environment.
The publication DE 10 2004 060 804 A1 discloses a rail lubrication and wetting device for rail-bound vehicles on a track on which the vehicle in question is rail-guided. In the prior art system, the groove of the grooved track serves as a reservoir for the lubricant; this groove can be filled with a flowable lubricant up to a predetermined level of the lubricant via at least one supply line. The lubricating groove in the rail used in this proposed solution is not always desirable; furthermore, due to the fact that it is used in an outdoor environment, it is also vulnerable to weather and pollution.
Thus, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to make available a device for wetting or lubricating a rail head, which device safely reduces the noise of a rail-bound vehicle regardless of the weather.